This past weekend a team turned in a computer for their engineering notebook at the event I host. As an EP I was hesitant to accept the computer. I spoke with the team’s mentor and he explained that in previous years his teams have turned in computers at worlds for judging. Now one computer was not that big of a problem but just imagine if all 30 teams had submitted their engineering notebook the same way. I spoke with my regional RECF rep and he said there was no rule against it. As an EP do I have the right to say no to these computers? I can’t imagine 700 MS and HS teams would be allowed to turn in computers at worlds. Thanks for your time.
I will not accept computers as notebooks at my event. Too many things can go wrong in terms of accessing information, sharing the computer between many volunteer judges, and expensive if lost, stolen or broken.
So, nope I will not accept computer as a submission.
I’ll be watching this thread with interest. While I am a dinosaur myself, I do see this as a potential wave of the future. That being said, there would need to be specific controls. I am not a fan of teams handing over laptops (what happens if it gets damaged or the laptop has a catastrophic failure?). The only way I can see this working is if team submit their notebooks in specific file formats (kind of like submitting a proposal) and the event has the capability to view the ENs on their own computer system. I think making any tournament organizer responsible for multiple laptops is a recipe for disaster.
As a judge, I wouldn’t want to deal with numerous laptop computers. If I had to deal with a non-paper based notebook, I would want a flash drive with the notebook as a single .pdf file as the only file on the flash drive. (perhaps an .mpg could be included too). At the 2016 worlds, every Engineering Notebook I looked at (which was all the short-list contenders for the MS VRC design award) was in a 3-ring binder.
I want to jump in on this conversation, with a slightly different question. My school is new to this competition. What types of things should be included in the engineering notebook?
My team uses both, we have a giant engineering notebook and a website for all the teams at our school. Its holds all of our daily documentation, weekly documentation, and photos/videos. All though we don’t use this as out notebook(Because paper is better) we do use it to show judges that hey we have this it has a lot more information you can look into if your are interested.
This seemed like a good idea until I realized what for?!?
If you are turning in a notebook, it should be a book. If you need technological aspects, include a cheap tablet or a various assortment of pictures. Including a laptop serves no purpose.
It would seem like a good idea, but what would they do if the computer got a virus and wouldn’t function properly, the files got deleted, or the battery died?
Wow! Good question. If the electronic notebook can provide clearer lineage of proving entry dates that would be a huge improvement. But dealing with 30+ computers is daunting. WHat if one breaks or does not work right?
If its not working right, why accept it. If a paper notebook is soaked in water, you wont have to accept it, instead of giving the judges a computer, what about a flashdrive?
I wouldn’t want to make judges responsible for a stack of notebook computers or tablets, and I would not ask them to plug foreign USB drives into their own computers. Paper works, paper is good, use paper.
Honestly, there are teams who do type their notebook, but they usually print the pages our and put it in a binder. Never have I seen anyone turn in a laptop for an engineering notebook. I would highly stick with notebook, but if you have time to type it and print the pages out then do it.
I was one of the lucky judges involved in this incident.
Here were our concerns:
Who is ultimately responsible for anything that might happen to the notebook?
What power source is required, or how is it provided if the notebook does not turn on.
What would have happened if the submitting team had accused us of tampering/erasing data from the laptop?
The notebook was password protected. The submitting team had written in down on the computer that we found after some searching. What if that had not worked? More time wasted.
It was the first ‘book’ judged, and then quickly returned to the team. This also disrupted the judging process
In the end, we (the judging team) would have preferred a paper submission. It should have been easy to print it out, since it was created in Word.
A recognized third parties to verify date time of entries versus taking your word for it. (Google Drive, an externally hosted version control system, or Dropbox for instance)
Do most teams actually still use the vex engineering notebooks given out, or do they print their pages out and stick them in 3 ring binders? Or do they put the vex engineering notebook in the 3 ring binder?